The Cherry Trees

Chapter One: 2021- Lexi's POV

Pollen from the Bradford pear trees flew through the air and eventually stuck to my eyes making them itch like crazy. My best friend Anne looked over at me as I sneezed... again. I hated spring. We were hiking on a small trail close to my home in Roswell. Off to the right, I saw a rabbit scurry off into the bushes. The cherry trees had just begun to bloom, their flowers coloring the sky with pink and white. There were just a few clouds, fluffy and white, hanging above us, stuck to the clear blue of the sky. I remember every detail of that day because it was the last normal one that I ever had.

I had made Anne come out here to hike so that she would feel better, and to get her mind off things. Apparently, that hadn't worked out too well.

Anne had been with this guy, Luke for practically her entire life. Everybody knew, or at least thought they knew, they were going to get married. That didn't work out too well either.

Two weeks ago, Luke was killed in a drive-by shooting. Anne had watched him die. She honestly believed it was her fault. "Lexi... I could have saved him," was all she kept saying. He was only 17 years old.

Anne and I were 17 as well, and we attended high school together. I had been friends with her for as long as I could remember, and that would never change. No matter what.

There was that moment of silence, the one where you just walked and enjoyed the beauty around you. I tripped over a root in the middle of the trail, not paying attention. It was then that I heard it. The small, quiet, click. I couldn't turn my head fast enough. When I finally saw her, she had the gun to her head. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. And then the whole forest went silent when the sound of her life being taken echoed off the cherry trees. The beautiful cherry trees.